Many of the procedures and treatments in a hospital require that a patient be lifted from a hospital bed, transported from the hospital bed and be deposited at another location, such as an operating table. In addition to such movement, it is frequently required that the patient be lifted and turned for treatments, such as an operation on the back.
There exist devices which lift and transport a patient but are incapable of turning or inverting a patient. There are also devices which turn or invert a patient, but are incapable of lifting or depositing a patient on an operating table.
An example of a device which can lift and transport a patient is the Amerilift.RTM. Patient Handling System. However, this device is incapable of turning or inverting a patient.
Detachable sheets are known in the art, see reference to Amerilift.RTM. Patient Handling System. Detachable sheets have straps attached to the backside to allow a patient supported thereon to be lifted by attaching the sheet to a lifting frame. Detachable sheets in and of themselves cannot safely and conveniently invert a patient.
Prior art methods for turning or inverting a patient fall into three broad classifications: (1) Manual methods, (2) Weaving methods, and (3) Clamshell methods.
First, the manual method requires numerous orderlies or staff members to physically pickup and invert a patient. It is especially difficult if the patient has been sedated, as is usual before surgical procedures. In the course of being physically inverted by numerous orderlies, the safety of the patient can be jeopardized as by crimping the tubes used for life support during intubation, as well as increasing the risk of injury to the orderlies who are inverting the patient. This is the common method employed to lift, deposit, and invert a patient who is intubated and sedated, and prepared for surgery on the back. Additionally for back surgery, a patient must be positioned on a positioning device such as a Wilson Frame to align the back properly. Proper positioning of the patient on the Wilson Frame is difficult through use of the manual method.
The second prior art method entails the use of devices which essentially weave a patient to a rotating frame, and after the frame is rotated, the patient is inverted. One implementation of these devices is to place a patient upon a first layer of the weave, the underneath layer, either through the assistance of the then conscious patient, or through use of the manual method described above. After the patient is positioned on the first layer, a second layer is added, interweaving straps of the first layer. Thus a patient is secured to a frame. After the frame is rotated, the patient is inverted. Such devices are not able to deposit the patient onto a bed or operating table. A common implementation of this device is its use to turn patients to be treated for burns.
Examples of devices in the second category of prior art devices are; U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,188,592 to Cunningham, 3,827,089 to Grow, 3,226,734 to Coventon, and 3,874,010 to Geary, all of which show devices designed to turn a patient once the patient is laying on the device. As noted above, these devices cannot lift or deposit a patient on a bed or operating table.
Devices in the third category, the clamshell method, invert a patient by trapping a patient between two rigid or semi-rigid structures, and then rotating the structures and the patient trapped therebetween. Again, these devices are incapable of lifting a patient, or depositing the patient once the patient is inverted. Therefore, as in the weave method described above, a patient must either assist in being positioned on the device, or recourse must be had to the manual method to position the patient.
Examples of prior art devices which utilize the clamshell method are; U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,690,177 to Hogan, 3,238,539 to Koch, 3,302,218 to Stryker, 3,827,089 to Grow, and 4,244,358 to Pyers.